The Nation Newspaper

Tag: accidents

  • How to curb accidents dominates stakeholders’ meeting

    How to curb accidents dominates stakeholders’ meeting

    Worried by the incessant occurrence of road mishaps on the Oka-Akoko/Abuja Road, stakeholders in road safety and prevention of car accidents had converged on Oka-Akoko, headquarters of Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State recently to deliberate on ways of preventing accidents which have become common phenomenon on the highway.

    The convergence aimed at curbing accidents on the ever-busy road which is said to be prone to road accidents. The deliberation lasted for 10 hours. After the meeting which featured arguments, intrigues and technical submissions, the stakeholders proffered measures that could help in preventing road accidents on the road which links the Southern part of the country with the North.

    Fatal accidents are said to occur on the Oka-Akoko/Abuja Road on daily basis. According to statistics presented by the representative of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) who was one of the discussants at the stakeholders’ meeting held at the Franklin Adefarati Hall in the centre of the ancient town, more than 250 lives have been lost on the road.

    This year alone, 45 accidents had occurred on the road, with an average of six accidents happening each day and at different locations of the highway.

    Accidents on the busy road are said to be caused majorly by the topography of the road which was constructed on a valley between hills.

    Another cause of accidents on the road which links the Southwest with Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, is heavy-duty trucks, especially those belonging to construction companies that ply the road both in the day and at night times. This, the residents say, is responsible for the killing of many members of the community.

    At the stakeholders’ meeting attended by representatives of the Oloka of Oka-Akoko, Akoko Descendants Union (ADU), the police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the FRSC and other Para-military organisations, the discussants agreed that accidents would continue to occur on the road unless the Federal Government reconstructs it.

    Also, a member representing Akoko South West/East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Babatunde Kolawole and other top government functionaries at local and state levels attended the meeting. They called for Federal Government’s intervention on the road to prevent further loss of lives.

    The people of Oka-Akoko, Akungba-Akoko and Ikare-Akoko who claimed to have been the major victims of the accident on the road attended the meeting in droves, even as they also called for the intervention of the Federal and state governments in curbing the occurrence of accidents on the road.

    While addressing the people, the convener of the meeting, Wale Gidado said the

    stakeholders’ meeting was called to present a common position to the Federal Government through the National Assembly on the challenges the people of the area are experiencing, urging the Federal Government to urgently construct the road for the benefit of the people of the communities where the road traversed in Ondo State.

    He noted that the road has caused the untimely death of many residents of Oka-Akoko, recalling that “on a single day, six accidents occurred at different locations on the road and members of the families of those who died in the accidents are still living with the ugly memory at present.

    “This is the reason why we are calling on the Federal Government to do something urgently to prevent further deaths on the road.

    “Our children cannot go out the way they want both in the day and at night. We can’t allow our children to go to school on their own, all for the fear of accident on the highway that passed through here to Abuja. Particularly, trucks plying the road are often responsible for many of the accidents on the road,” he said.

    Gidado recalled that the Federal Government had awarded contract for the construction of the road in 1996, saying “we had thought that the road would bring development to our town and other communities around us, but the road has brought untold problem and calamity to us as a community as it had caused the deaths of many of our dear people.

  • Two dead, two injured in Ogun accidents

    Two people died and two others were injured in separate accidents in Ogun State yesterday.

    One person died in an explosion at a government petroleum dump site in Abeokuta, the state capital.

    Two others were injured in the accident.

    The last person, a commuter, died when a truck fell on him at a bus stop in Ijebu-Ode.

    The dump site is within the old State Road Maintenance Agency (OGROMA) yard, opposite Agbeloba Building on Quarry Road.

    A bricklayer working at the site, who witnessed the incident, said the victims were working on three underground tankers, which were relocated from the government fuel dumps at the old secretariat.

    It was gathered that firemen put out the fire quickly to enable rescuers retrieve  the victim’s body.

    On the Ijebu-Ode accident,  the spokesman of the State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, said a Mack tanker, APP 81 XL, killed a man, Ahmed, when the truck fell on a Nissan space bus, KJA 901 BX.

    Akinbiyi said the tanker driver, identified as Chinedu, is in police custody.

    The victim’s remains have been collected by his family.

  • Four die in Ogun multiple accidents

    Four persons, including a commercial motorcyclist, have died in multiple accidents at the Sagamu stretch of the Lagos -Ore Expressway.

    Two bodies were deposited at the mortuary of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, a source at the Morbid Anatomy unit said. The others were taken to Sagamu.

    The accident, which occurred on Monday night at the steep and sharp bend near the Sagamu junction – Old Toll Gate, involved a cyclist, a truck carrying diesel, a cement truck, a commercial bus and a lorry carrying flour.

    It was gathered that the accident was caused by the diesel truck, which fell and emptied its content.

    Motorists travelling to Ore ran into the oil-filled lane and were swept off the road. Some crashed into the concrete median; others plunged into a valley nearby.

    The driver of the cement truck, Abubakar Umar, said it was a miracle that he was not hurt when he lost control of the vehicle.

    He said: “I drove into the slippery road unaware. My truck lost balance, skidded off the road before plunging into a valley. It rolled many times over and hauled the bags of cement in the valley.”

    Operatives of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), police and the state’s traffic management agency (TRACE) were controlling the traffic even as some labourers were covering the oil – filled road with sand.

    Police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the motorcyclist died on the spot.

  • How FRSC,VIO, MVAA and driving schools increase the rate of accidents

    How FRSC,VIO, MVAA and driving schools increase the rate of accidents

    Driving  schools that issued their certificates to candidates without the information of the candidates submitted to FRSC website and/or supervising Unit commands (Spanning the three months duration) should be sanctioned.

    d. All driving schools should submit the list of candidates they presented for licence processing on monthly basis to the Association of Driving Instructors of Nigeria (ADIN) as a form of checks and balances.

    e. There should be a monthly interactive session of the FRSC with the National Executive Officers of the Association of Driving Instructors of Nigeria (ADIN) to deliberate on the level of compliance by the FRSC and the Driving Schools FRSC Licence production Department should give the officers of the Association (ADIN) the privilege of seeing the list of candidates presented for licence production every month and compare with the list submitted by its members to know the level of compliance and effectiveness.

    This if done will also put a stop to the cloning and unauthorised use of Driving School certificates by FRSC, VIO and MVAA for Driver Licence racketeering.

    f. Possession or use of the old licence should be declared illegal and any candidate holding the old driver licence and the fake new licence should be arrested and prosecuted. There must be open air announcements to enlighten Nigerians on this.

    g. It is a truism that safety of irreparable lives and valuable properties must not be compromised. It therefore behoves the authorities of the Federal Road Safety Commission and other stakeholders, not to give room to favouritism in the implementation of the above-mentioned steps, no matter the status or position of the candidates either in the government or private sector.

    h. The Federal Road Safety Commission should embark on secret monitoring of driving schools and FRSC capturing centres/Licence production Department to ensure full compliance with the steps suggested above.

    i. Call a stakeholders meeting comprising representatives of FRSC, State VIO, MVAA and Association of Driving Schools (ADIN) and notify them of the new policy and procedures to enhance confidence and compliance.

    The above are just our suggestions to your goodselves for consideration based on our experience and findings in the past few years.

    We are very confident that if strictly implemented, they will put an end to the sharp practices hitherto perpetrated by driving schools (Certified and Uncertified), FRSC, MVAA and VIO. This will also go a very long way in further boosting the accomplishment of the objectives of the graduated Driver Licensing Scheme as well as the reduction of road traffic crashes and fatalities in Nigeria.

    Any government official, driving school, organisation or individual that is still opposed to the adoption and implementation of the steps suggested above is either a direct or indirect beneficiary of the driver licence racketeering conspiracy or ignorant of the workability of the graduated driver licensing scheme.

    It is time for the Federal Government, State Governments, National Assembly, State Assemblies and the Judiciary to rise up to their responsibilities as touching Road Safety in Nigeria to reduce the rate of road  crashes and fatalities in Nigeria. Let us all put a stop to lip service while innocent lives and valuable property are wasting away on the  roads everyday.

  • Agency to reduce accidents

    The Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) is committed to reducing fatal road crashes this December, the Corps’ Commander, Ayo Sangofadeji, has said.

    He spoke with reporters on this year’s accident-free day at the Corps’ headquarters in Abeokuta, the state capital.

    Sangofadeji said the corps would intensify efforts on its public enlightenment programmes especially at motor parks across the state and bring erring motorists to book.

    “Our goal this year is to ensure reduction in road traffic accident compared to 2013. We will intensify efforts by way of enlightenment and strong enforcement,” he said.

    The Corps, he said, is determined to prove a point to members of the public that ‘Ember’ month does not kill. He noted that what kills is poor driving attitude which needed to be addressed by ensuring total compliance to safety rules and regulations.

    Speaking on the role of passengers, the TRACE chief, advised them to be at alert at all times, watch drivers’ attitude, and manner of driving and report any behaviour contrary to safety of lives to the appropriate authority.

    He said: “We have one driver to many passengers in a vehicle; one person should not be allowed to negatively dictate where the journey of the others would end.”

  • ‘Occupational illness, accidents at work claim $2.8tr’

    ‘Occupational illness, accidents at work claim $2.8tr’

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has stated that latest report from its research has showed that the direct or indirect cost of occupational illness and accidents at work is estimated at $2.8 trillion worldwide.

    ILO’s Director-General, Guy Ryder, who stated this while lending his support to the recently organized World Congress on Safety and Health at Work held in Frankfurt, Germany said a world without fatal or serious occupational accidents is possible.

    He said the direct or indirect cost of occupational illness and accidents at work is estimated at $2.8 trillion worldwide, noting that the triennial Congress was co-organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA), and was hosted by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV).

    According to Ryder, about 2.3 million people worldwide die annually as a result of occupational illnesses and accidents at work, adding that there are also 860,000 occupational accidents every day, with consequences in terms of injuries.

    “These figures are unacceptable and yet these daily tragedies often fail to show up on the global radar. Clearly, there is still much to be done. Serious occupational accidents are, firstly, human tragedies but economies and society also pay a high price.

    “The right to a safe and healthy workplace is a basic human right – a right to be respected at every level of development and in different economic conditions.

  • Road accidents in Nigeria will remain high if………

    Daily reports in Nigeria are still pointing to the fact that the rate of road accidents (crashes) and fatalities is still disturbingly high.

    We should still remind ourselves of the recent rating of Nigeria as second to the last of 193 countries with high rates of road accidents.

    The truth I wish to categorically state here is that unless the issues I want to mention in this article are objectively considered and addressed, the rate of accidents and fatalities in Nigeria will continue to be on the rise.

    • Inadequate monitoring of the roads – There are some portion of intra and inter – State roads that have become death traps simply because the government officials responsible are not prompt in monitoring for quality construction by the Contractor or maintenance.

    • Misplaced priority – Evidences abound that Government (Federal and States) and their agencies have and are still misplacing priorities in issues relating to the safety of lives and properties. For example, in the whole country with a population of over 150 million people, there is no single standard driving range constructed  by the Federal Government, state government, Federal Road Safety Commission, Ministries of Transport, Ministries of Works nor by other agencies which the driving schools can use to train people how to drive or test candidates for Licence processing. Instead of focusing on this, the state governments are busy establishing drivers institute without driving range but just for income generation thereby limiting the opportunities that should have been available to driving schools to generate income, improve their standards, pay more taxes and make more impacts.  The Federal Road Safety Commission is also busy running around to companies to conduct training programmes for drivers, a function that the same Federal Road Safety Commission and the State Vehicle Inspection Departments certified the Driving Schools to perform. How many vehicles and drivers on Nigeria roads today passed the standards of the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Vehicle Inspection Officers? Why are they still moving about on the roads with impunity? The answer is not far fetched, the people to check and control them have been diverted by fund mobilisation for the governments and for personal pockets.

     

    • To be continued

  • 55 die in Yobe auto crash

    Fifty five People have died in two separate road crashes in Yobe state in the early hours of Monday, the Federal Road Safety Yobe Command has said.

    The Public Relation Officer of the Corp in Yobe State Yusuf Sani told newsmen in Damaturu that one of the accidents occurred along Gashua-Garin Alkali road and killed 20 people out of whom 16 were women and 4 men while the other one involving three cars occurred on Damaturu-Potiskum causing the death of 35 people.

    An eyewitness in Gashua who spoke with our correspondent on phone informed that the accident happened while some villagers were returning from the Sunday Market in the area.

    On the cause of the accident, Yusuf said it was as a result of “over-speeding and dangerous overtaking.”

    “The accident at Gashua killed 20 people. Out of that number, 16 are women and 4 are men. They were returning from a local Sunday market from Garin Alkali. On the accident along Damaturu/Potiskum Road, 35 people died, only 7 survived,” Sani disclosed.

    The spokesman informed that those who sustained injuries were taken to Damagum General Hospital, adding that the corpses have equally been evacuated to the same hospital.

  • Residents protest frequent road accidents

    Residents of Dutse Baupuma and Makaranta communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have cried out over continuous accidents on the Dutse-Bwari expressway, noting that between December last year and January 15, this year, over 10 people have been killed at Dutse Bokuma Junction, a spot they have tagged death zone.

    Angered by the latest accident which occurred penultimate week when a popular businesswoman, Mrs. Lamidi Maimunat, alongside two others, were killed by a trailer, residents numbering over 200 stormed the highway in protest of what they termed government’s negligence of the area.

    The residents, who insisted that government should put in place measures to reduce frequent road accidents in the area, barricaded the road. This led to a heavy gridlock as vehicles on the Bwari Road were forced to either turn back or remain in the holdup that lasted for hours.

    An eye witness said: “A trailer coming from Bwari axis developed faulty break and swerved to the other side of the road. In the process, it killed Mrs. Lamidi and two others. Mrs. Lamidi was killed while on a bike that was to take her to Dutse Alhaji.

    “The trailer killed both the motorcycle operator and Mrs. Lamidi. The painful aspect of the accident is the manner in which the woman was killed. The heavy vehicle dragged her along for few kilometres before it finally stopped.

    “When some policemen arrived, they did not approach the matter in a civil manner. They just started spraying teargas at the protesters. One would have expected them to discuss the matter with them, instead of attacking them.”

    Speaking with the daughter of the diseased, Miss Nana Lamidi, she said she was short of words, adding that she could not believe that her mother was dead. She also said that her mother left them few minutes before they got the news of her death.

    “You can see that our house is not far from the road. So, you can imagine the distance. My mother cannot be replaced, as she was our backbone. How will I further my education now? How will my brothers and the rest of us further our education now that mum is gone?” she lamented.

    She appealed to government to assist her and her younger ones who currently have nobody to take care of them, saying “our mother was the breadwinner of the family. Now that she is gone, we have nobody.”

  • Fall in road accidents in Ekiti

    From Ekiti State SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN writes that despite the revelries, accounts of drivers and officials of Federal Roads Safety Corps reveal a fall in road accidents during the Yuletide

    Findings across motor parks among drivers and other road users have revealed that there was a drastic reduction in motor accidents during the celebrations of Christmas and New Year.

    A driver who identified himself as Kola Alawode, who plies the inter-state Ado-Akure route said he did not experience any hiccup on the road and that he did not hear of any accident throughout the period.

    Said he:”I don’t know why it was so but there were no accidents throughout the Christmas period. No one told me of any as well.

    Another driver who shuttles between Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State and Lagos State admitted the reduction and traced it to the personal efforts of the drivers.

    “I sensed there was a reduction in road accidents this year but I think it is just because people have learned their lesson. Perhaps they now know that you are a good driver only if you leave your house in the morning and return in the evening”, he said.

    Even, residents admitted the general safety on the roads. Mr. Lawan, a banker in the capital city noted that passengers themselves have a part to play and had played it well.

    He explained that people no longer leave the drivers to do the job of driving alone. “Passengers now drive with the drivers. If he overtakes at bends they know and shout. Any dangerous attitude on the driver’s part is immediately condemned”, he said.

    However, the State Sector Commander, Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Ekiti State, Engr. Ringdom Kumven, while admitting the reduction, traced it to the efforts of the Corps.

    According to him, the reduction was experienced not only in the state but generally across the country, which he said was a consequence of general campaigns by the Corps across motor parks and equally on the electronic media.

    Said he: “Generally there was a reduction this year compared to last year because the Commission was able to mount what it tagged “Zero tolerance for accidents” which took the form of campaigns both on radio and Television and across the motor parks.”

    He spoke further: “The campaign I am talking about involved the deployment of all FRSC operatives and patrol vehicles on the highways to cover the major routes and corridors.

    “This resulted in the decongestion of traffic gridlocks along major corridors and the dangerous attitudes of motorists were well monitored and checked as well.

    “Aside the operations, there was robust public enlightenment at garages and on the radio and TV through which we warned against familiar reckless attitudes of drivers during the so-called ember months.

    Kumven clarified further that the “reduction was actual and not theoretical”, noting that “in the month of October last year there were only four road crashes as against nine in October 2012; while in last November, there were seven compared with 17 in 2012. He also added that there were only five road crashes in December last year, compared with twenty five in December 2012.”